Spring, summer or autumn this is a wonderful day out with easy public transport access. The earliest reference to Boston (or Bordwadestone as it was then spelled) was around the 1170s. It may mean Bord's tun or farm by the stone. It was situated towards the northern end of the Manor Boston. The lord of the Manor is recorded as Ralph de Brito. In about 1280 King Edward I granted this area of the township to the prioress of St Helen's Bishopsgate. The King may have favoured this particular Convent in Bishopsgate because it was full of the unmarried daughters of members of the Guild of Goldsmiths, and so by making them self-supporting by giving them the means to charge their new tenants rents and to sell the produce grown on their newly acquired demesne, he could justify taxing their fathers more heavily and collect the tax in the form of silver coinage, which was more convenient. Things stayed this way until 1539 when under Henry VIII the convent was dissolved and these manor holdings returned to the Crown. It passed out of the control of the Crown in 1547 and into the hands of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset during the reign of King Edward VI. After the Duke was forced to forfeit both his lands and his head, it once more returned to the Crown until Elizabeth I granted it to her favourite Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester who immediately sold it to Sir Thomas Gresham who had become a fabulously wealthy merchant and financier who had also bought Osterley as his summer residence. He went on to found the Royal Exchange. Boston Manor House was built in 1622/23 by a descendant; it was sold in 1670, with its then 230 acres (93 ha) for £5,136/17s/4d.
The manor house is a Grade I listed Jacobean manor house on the west-side of Boston Manor Road, Brentford, in the London Borough of Hounslow. Set in 20 acres of parkland, it is Hounslow’s only building of the Elizabethan period. It is situated in beautiful grounds which gently slope down to the nearby River Brent, from which Brentford gets its name. The house has thick walls of red brick and stands three storeys high. The windows are set into stone architraves and a stone cornice between the second and third storeys of the house. The interior is gorgeous, replete with Jacobean staircases, splendid art and furnishings that bring the 17th century alive. The park is free and open to the public every day: 8am-dusk It has a modern and fully equipped children's playground, plus 3 tennis courts, and a basketball court. Friends of Boston Manor volunteers run a cafeteria at weekends. Recently a Nature Trail has been laid out. There are formal lawns and an ornamental lake with wild fowl. Car Boot sales are held first Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The manor itself is open on Saturdays and Sundays and Bank Holidays from April to October. Only the ground floor is wheelchair accessible.
Location : Boston Manor Road, Brentford, TW8 9JX.
Transport: Boston Manor (Piccadilly) .London Bus routes E3 , E8, 195 all stop nearby.
Opening Times: Weekends and Bank Holidays, April through October, 12:00 to 17:00.
The Park is open year round.
Tickets : Free.
Tel: 0208 568 2818.
